Next Steven Otto
visited Commander Corey Richmond at the military academy, where Fin had spent
his last three years of high school.
At the entrance a
cadet was on duty to control the comings and goings. He wore a crisp uniform.
Checking with Commander Richmond's office, if "Dr." Steven Otto had
an appointment. Steve was collected personally by the Commander, a fit man in
his fifties with red hair. Commander Richmond was very proud of the academy and
offered the investigator a tour.
They started with
the students living quarters. The school accepted boys and girls from
Kindergarten to 12th grade. They had of course separate accommodation, but were
housed in the same building.
Students were
called cadets and had to wear a uniform Monday to Friday. Up to ten students
lived on one floor. Two shared a bed room. It was a bit basic with a bunk bed,
two writing desks, two wardrobes and an en-suite bathroom. Cadets weren't
allowed any electronic gadgets, radios or TVs on their rooms. There were a TV,
DVD player and board games in the common room.
Days were strictly
organized. Wake up was at 06.00 hours, afterwards beds had to be made according
to regulations, then time for personal hygiene. Breakfast was served from 06.30
hours to 07.00 hours. It was followed by formation training. School lessons
started at 08.00 hours sharp. There was a half hour break in the morning. To
the private investigator's surprise there was no lunch break at all. School
finished at 15.00 hours. Afterwards there was time for a snack and private
study until 5 PM, followed by an hour relaxation before dinner and cleaning the
rooms as well as some extra curriculum activities, like theatre, photography,
flying and instrument lessons or other sports activities. Cadets had to be on
their rooms at 20.30 hours, ready for inspection and bed by 21.00 hours. Of
course the day looked slightly different for younger children.
Weekends were
spent exploring the area and other educational activities.
Only once a month
students could go out alone on Saturdays or Sundays.
Somehow Steven
Otto couldn't imagine Fin fitting in or liking the strict discipline.
"Do you have
a lot of cadets, who are problematic children?" "No. Most of our
student body have already a parent in the military or plans a career in the
armed forces. We are proud to have helped former students achieve high ranking
positions in the Navy and Army or to become successful Air Force pilots. Others
have of course careers in the private sector. We choose our cadets carefully.
Sometimes we end up with unsuitable candidates. Parents lie or they realize
their son or daughter isn't doing well in our environment."
"Alright." "This is our
sick bay. Cadets must go here, when they feel unwell. Depending how ill the
cadet is, he or she might spend some time here. They might be able to return to
their room to recover or are declared healthy enough to attend class."
Commander Richmond showed Steve the classrooms and sports facilities before
going to the administrative building, where his office was located. Corey asked
his secretary to make coffee for him and his visitor. In his office Corey invited
Steve to take a seat and handed him Cadet Noose's file. Commander Richmond's
office was a male sanctuary with leather furniture and dark wooden panelling.
Steve thought it fit Corey.
"Did you know
Cadet Noose personally?" "I encountered him a few times, mostly it
was positive, like handing over an award for the fastest cross country finish
of the school. Once I had to punish him, because Cadet Noose had accumulated
five detention points, which meant an appointment with me and a call to his
parents. It's normal procedure." "Okay, and what does a visit to your
office entail?" "I discuss the situation with the parents first. They
can make the decision how their son or daughter is going to be punished or
leave it to the kid, depending on age and maturity." "Okay, so how do
discipline your students?" "Again depending what the parents decide,
what the misdemeanour was, how often I see that specific Cadet for disciplinary
reasons and how old the student is. It can be anything from taking away
privileges, having to do extra chores or drill training to corporal
punishment." "Do you generally decide what punishment you are going
to use before calling the parents or do you give them different options?"
"Well, I make up my mind and give two options. One is something that
students won't like to have to do, i.e. staying at school on a free weekend,
cleaning the grounds or training. The other is a paddling." "Hm, can
I ask what happened when Cadet Noose visited your office?" "I called
his parents. They left the decision to the cadet. I then asked the Wing Leader
Voltaire DeLeon to bring Cadet Noose to me. We discussed the misdemeanor
without Wing Leader DeLeon being present, but he was invited in, when I offered
Cadet Noose his choices. It was a week drill training including Saturday and
Sunday with Wing Leader DeLeon or two licks with the paddle. He made up his
mind and chose the paddling. As always I asked the Cadet to bend over my
cleared writing desk and to hold on to the opposite end. I then lectured him
about the importance to be punctual and reliable before applying the first
stroke. I let him stew a bit and then gave the last one with a bit more vigor.
Wing Leader DeLeon witnessed the procedure and accompanied the cadet back to
his room." "Was the cadet contrite?" "Yes, he was when he
arrived and even apologized before I told him what options he had. Afterwards
he stated again how sorry he was and thanked me." "How did he react
to the punishment?" "Cadet Noose took it like a man. He grunted only
after the second swat. There weren't any signs he was close to tears."
"Do you think Cadet Noose was spanked at home?" "Of course I can
only speculate, but based on his reaction I would say, he was used to harsher
corporal punishment." "Can I see the paddle?"
"Naturally." Commander Richmond went to retrieve it from a cupboard.
The paddle was made from oak wood and had holes drilled into it. Steven Otto
thought it was a formidable weapon and must cause bruising. The paddle was
around 16 in long, 4 in wide and 0.5 in thick. He barely kept from shuddering.
"Is there a protocol you have to follow when giving a paddling?"
"Well, there has to be a witness present and I only deal with the boys.
The girls are punished by our female PE teacher. We are allowed to give up to
six swats. It is up to our discretion if the cadet has to remove clothing below
the waist." "Do you often paddle on the bare?" "No. I use
it only for exceptional bad behavior or if the student is very often in my
office for discipline." "How often do you think you asked cadets to
pull down their pants in the last ten years?" "Maybe three, four
times. As I said it's a rare occurrence." "And how often do use
generally corporal punishment?" "First of all most students are very
well behaved and I don't see them for negative reasons. Second most parents and
students now a days prefer to have privileges taken away, so I paddle a cadet
maybe every three months, if even." "I assume Cadet Noose was fully
clad, when he was punished by you?" "Of course. It was his first and
only visit. Due to this it was a low count of swats and given on his
pants." "Do you normally check if a cadet cheats, for example he has
newspapers stuffed into his trousers?" "It's easy to spot if a cadet
is cheating. As you said, when they use newspapers or a book or wear more
underpants, it's generally clearly visible. If I have my doubts about the
honesty of the person in question I check." "What's happening when
you catch someone?" "The cadet has to remove all clothing from the
waist down. He will be given two sets of swats: The first for the original
offence; the second for cheating, which automatically means six." "So
you can give more than six?" "Only in this circumstance." Steven
nodded, indicating he understood. Running out of questions Steven thanked the
Commander and took the copy of the file with him.
Steven studied it
at his hotel, learning Fin had been a good student, excelling in sports, math
and science. There was a C in Chinese and Formation Training, but otherwise
only As and Bs. There were two punishments noted, one was a detention for the
whole class, since a prank had been played on another student, but nobody had
come forward admitting to having it done, and the paddling Commander Richmond
had already described. Otherwise teachers reported Fin was quiet, shy,
hardworking, self-controlled and ready to help other cadets. Of course
Commander Richmond's testimony added another point of evidence Fin had been
probably abused. Either that or he had been very self-constrained and didn't
show how much the swats with the paddle really hurt. Having spoken with many
people about Fin by now he thought it was the first, leading to the latter.
©2017
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